LET OUR CHILDREN GO!

by Ted & Tom Dulack Patrick ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 1976

The black ""de-programmer"" of members of America's pushiest cults explains and defends his admittedly controversial tactics. Some of it sounds like the stuff Howard Hunt's dreams are made of: split-second ""kidnappings"" (.planned by Patrick, but executed by the child's relatives), transportation to a ""safe"" house (the cult usually notifies the police, who show up at the parents' home with a warrant), and the relatively speedy de-programming itself (anywhere from an hour to a record eleven days). Not so legal, maybe (the courts have ruled both ways on the issue, and the police have often provided Patrick with unofficial assistance)--but what else is one to do, asks Patrick, when the state lets religious institutions get away with tricks that would land the rest of us in jail? Even more to the point are the ""rescued"" people's tales of abuse they routinely endured during the time they belonged to the cult: endless indoctrination, no medical care, little food, hours of fund-raising under false pretenses--all accomplished by a system of ego-destruction Patrick considers similar to the brainwashing of prisoners in the Korean War. Be that as it may, even Patrick's opponents spare few kind words for the endless machinations of Guru Maharaj Ji's Divine Light Mission, Hannah Lowe's New Testament Fellowship, or Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Until the law takes organizations like this under public scrutiny, a concerned parent might do far worse than hire this former ombudsman of Ronald Reagan's.

Pub Date: April 23, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION